Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Thursday said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to give a one-year relief to Islamabad, keepin in view the country’s struggle against the coronavirus pandemic.
The foreign minister’s remarks follow the announcement of the G20 nations on Wednesday to give one-year debt relief to world’s poorest nations as they struggle to financially cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
“Prime Minister Imran Khan had appealed to IMF for debt relief for developing countries which was accepted by the Fund. IMF has announced it would give one-year relief to 70 developing nations including Pakistan,” Qureshi said.
How will this help?
These developments might pave the way for debt rescheduling for Pakistan for the next two years as Islamabad desperately looks for any such facility to create much-needed fiscal space for increasing spending on neglected health sector of the country. The unemployment as projected by all the multilateral lenders as well as by the independent economists will increase pressure on the budgetary side to jack up funding for social safety nets.